There is a Charm no vulgar mind can reach...

There is a Charm no vulgar mind can reach.

No critick thwart, no mighty master teach;

A Charm how mingled of the good and ill!

Yet still so mingled that the mystick whole

Shall captive hold the struggling Gazer's will,

‘ Till vanquish'd reason own its full control.

And such, oh Rubens, thy mysterious art,

The charm that vexes, yet enslaves the heart!

Thy lawless style, from timid systems free,

Impetuous rolling like a troubled sea,

High o'er the rocks of reason's lofty verge

Impending hangs; yet, ere the foaming surge

Breaks o'er the bound, the refluent ebb of taste

Back from the shore impels the wat'ry waste.